Where on the one hand, old age has wonderful gifts in its lap for all, it also holds many challenges too. On the one side, you gain wisdom, maturity, and vast experience, on the other side, you have to deal with health issues. However, yoga for seniors can help you if you are looking for a way to cherish your life in your golden days.

Problems You Face As Senior Citizens

Physical

It is a phase when your physical dimension moves toward decline, deterioration, and muscle atrophy. Thus, you feel pain in joints, short breath, and other physical ailments. Therefore, your physical movements are limited to a certain degree.

Psychological

Mental disorders are associated with old age. People suffer from short memory, sleep issues, or aggressive behavior because of the feeling of helplessness. Psychoses or psychotic disorders can become a permanent resident in your life in old age.

Emotional

Suffering from various mental problems leaves you in chaos, always doubting your capabilities. Also, the generation gap serves as a great distance between people of varying ages, and you feel lost. Moreover, negligence or insufficient time at hand made you feel unwanted at times.

Mental

Old age is also considered as second childhood because people lose their mental control and become highly dependent on the caretaker. Thus, it is not possible to do anything when it comes to physical movement.

Benefits of Yoga For Senior

Seniors have special needs to be taken care of when it comes to yoga practice. Although, intense physical movements might not be possible for them, however, gentle movements can never go out of the question.

A few benefits can be as follows when you practice yoga for seniors.

Better Flexibility

When you practice yoga poses, even the light and gentle yoga asanas enhances your flexibility. While practicing yoga for seniors, you push your body just a little as not to go past your limits. Rather, you undergo slow and steady progress that facilitates you with better flexibility.

It helps you move freely even if your movements are limited. More flexible limbs help with the free movement of various joints and improves your body posture.

Reverse Muscle Atrophy

Muscle atrophy occurs when you become physically inactive. Your muscle strength and flexibility declines, and there occur shrinking of your body structure. However, practicing yoga for seniors train your muscles, and keep them intact with easy to moderate physical activity.

Thus, you attain a decent physical level even in old age. Since muscles are stretched and contracted when you practice yoga asanas, it provides you an ever-moving physical self.

Good for Joints

By the time people enter old age, the bone density decreases to a greater degree, which makes it excruciating to do heavy physical activity. Moreover, the greasiness of joints also declines that make it difficult to engage in an active lifestyle, be it running or any other recreational activity.

However, yoga for seniors consists of various rehabilitation yoga poses that are good on joints, and help you get back on track to enjoy free moving limbs without any pain. Moreover, the range of motion of the muscles improves, facilitating you further injury-free movement.

Boosts Mental Activity

Brain scans have shown that older people have a very slow processing time that is why they react slowly. Also, since there is no learning at that phase of life, the neuron pathways that are not used stop getting activated.

When you practice yoga for seniors, various meditation techniques help you to reach deeper dimensions of your being, so that, you can connect deeply with yourself. It further helps you by activating the inactive parts of the brain to improve your mental activity.

Sense of Balance

Balance is essential in life, be it having mental peace or a physically fit body. Yoga for seniors helps you attain that balance in your life, so that, you can work on every dimension of your life. Practicing mindful meditation improves your mental level, and it further helps you to have an enhanced connection with your physical dimension.

Sum Up

As seniors, practicing yoga safely is the only priority, and yoga for seniors serves the best to fulfill your aim. However, for extreme case scenarios, getting a recommendation from a physician should be there. Once you are medically cleared, you can initiate your yogic journey.

You can also join a beginners’ yoga class to learn the best yoga for beginners and have a smooth start with your journey.